Ranking the most popular Christmas tales

By Jim Higgins of the Journal Sentinel

Published on: 12/20/2012

For her doctoral dissertation in English, Northern Illinois University student Emily Kingery examined more than 100 anthologies from the beginning of the 19th century to the present to determine which stories were most popular.

An article published online by NIU Today includes Kingery's Top 20 and a discussion of her working method and conclusions. Kingery told the publication:

“What all the anthologies have in common – regardless of their specific agendas, methods of revision or dates of publication – is the impulse to manufacture feelings of nostalgia for Christmas-as-it-used-to-be.”